Mexican muralism was the promotion of mural painting starting
in the 1920s, generally with social and political messages as part of
efforts to reunify the country under the post
Mexican Revolution government. It was headed by “the big three” painters,
Diego Rivera,
José Clemente Orozco and
David Alfaro Siqueiros.
From the 1920s to about 1970s a large number of murals with
nationalistic, social and political messages were created on public
buildings, starting a tradition which continues to this day in
Mexico and has had impact in other parts of the Americas, including the
United States where it served as inspiration for the
Chicano Mural Movement.
Antecedents
Mexico has had a tradition of painting murals, starting with the
Olmec
civilization in the pre Hispanic period and into the colonial period,
with murals mostly painted to evangelize and reinforce Christian
doctrine.
[1]
The modern tradition has its roots in the 19th century, with this use
of political and social themes. The first Mexican mural painter to use
philosophical themes in his work was
Juan Cordero in the mid 19th century. Although he did mostly work with religious themes such as the cupola of the
Santa Teresa Church and other churches, he painted a secular mural at the request of
Gabino Barreda at the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria (since disappeared).
[2]
The latter 19th century was dominated politically by the
Porfirio Díaz regime. This government was the first to push for the cultural development of the country, supporting the
Academy of San Carlos and sending promising artists abroad to study. However, this effort left out indigenous culture and people, with aim of making
Mexico like
Europe.
[1] Gerardo Murillo, also known as Dr. Atl, is considered to be the first modern Mexican muralists with the idea that Mexican art should reflect Mexican life.
[3]
Academy training and the government had only promoted imitations of
European art. Atl and other early muralists pressured the Diaz
government to allow them to paint on building walls to escape this
formalism.
[4]
Atl also organized an independent exhibition of native Mexican artists
promoting many indigenous and national themes along with color schemes
that would later appear in mural painting.
[5]
The first modern Mexican mural, painted by Atl, was a series of female
nudes using “Atlcolor” a substance Atl invented himself, very shortly
before the beginning of the
Mexican Revolution .
[6] Another influence on the young artists of the late Porfirian period was the graphic work of
José Guadalupe Posada, who mocked European styles and created cartoons with social and political criticism.
[5]
The
Mexican Revolution itself was the culmination of political and social opposition to
Porfirio Díaz policies. One important oppositional group was a small intellectual community that included
Antonio Curo,
Alfonso Reyes and
José Vasconcelos.
They promoted a populist philosophy that coincided with the social and
political criticism of Atl and Posada and influenced the next generation
of painters such as
Diego Rivera,
José Clemente Orozco and
David Alfaro Siqueiros.
[7]
These ideas gained power as a result of the
Mexican Revolution, which overthrew the Díaz regime in less than a year.
[7]
However, there was nearly a decade of fighting among the various
factions vying for power. Governments changed frequently with a number
of assassination, including that of
Francisco I. Madero who initiated the struggle. It ended in the early 1920s with one-party rule in the hands of the
Álvaro Obregón faction, which became the
Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).
[1]
During the Revolution, Atl supported the Carranza faction and promoted
the work of Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros, who would later be the
founders of the muralism movement. Through the war and until 1921, Atl
continued to paint murals among other activities including teaching the
Mexico’s next generation of artists and muralists.
[6]
Mural movement
Eagle and snake image from the San Ildefonso College project by
Jean Charlot.
In 1921, after the end of the Revolution, José Vasconcelos was appointed to head the
Secretaría de Educación Pública.
At the time, most of the Mexican population was illiterate and the
government needed a way to promote the ideals of the Mexican Revolution.
It was Vasconcelos’ idea have a government-backed mural program for
this purpose.
[1]
Similar to mural use in the pre Hispanic period and during the colonial
period, the purpose of these murals were not simply aesthetic, but
social, to promote certain ideals.
[1][4] These ideals or principles were to glorify the
Mexican Revolution and the identity of
Mexico as a mestizo nation, with the indigenous promoted as well as the Spanish.
[1] The government began to hire the country’s best artists to paint murals, calling some of them home from Europe including
Diego Rivera.
[7] These initial muralists included Dr. Atl,
Ramón Alva de la Canal and others but the main three would be
David Alfaro Siqueiros,
José Clemente Orozco and
Diego Rivera. His time as secretary was short but it set how muralism would develop. His image was painted on a tempera mural in 1921 by
Roberto Montenegro, but this was short lived. His successor at the Secretaría de Educación Pública ordered it painted out.
[1]
The muralists differed in style and temperament, but all believed that
art was for the education and betterment of the people. This was behind
their acceptance of these commissions as well as their creation of the
Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors.
[7]
The first government sponsored mural project was on the three levels of interior walls of the old
San Ildefonso College, at that time used for the Escuela National Preparatoria.
[4][5]
However, most of the murals in the Escuela National Preparatoria were
done by José Clemente Orozco with themes of a mestizo Mexico, the ideas
of renovation and the tragedies of the Revolution.
[4] This project was followed by the
Palacio Nacional, the interior walls of the
Palacio de Bellas Artes, the
Escuela Nacional de Chapingo the Escuela Nacional de Medicina and the
Secretaria de Educación Pública building among many others.
[4]
The movement was strongest from the 1920s to the 1950s, which
corresponded to the country’s transformation from a mostly rural and
mostly illiterate society to an industrialized one. While today they are
part of Mexico’s identity, at the time they were controversial,
especially those with socialist messages plastered on centuries-old
colonial buildings.
[4]
One of the basic underpinnings of the nascence of a post revolutionary
Mexican art was that it should be public, available to the citizenry and
above all not the province of a few wealthy collectors. The great
societal upheaval made the concept possible as well as a lack of
relatively wealthy middle class to support the arts.
[1]
On this, the painters and the government agreed. One other point of
agreement was that artists should have complete freedom of expression.
This would lead to another element added to the murals over their
development. In addition to the original ideas of a reconstructed Mexico
and the elevation of Mexico’s indigenous and rural identity, many of
the muralists, including the three main painters, also included elements
of
Marxism, especially the struggle of the working class against oppression.
[1][4]
Artistry
Mexican populist art production from the 1920s to the 1950s is often
grouped under the name of “Escuela Mexicana de Pintura (y Escultura)
(Mexican School of Painting and Sculpture), coined in the 1930s by art
historians and critics. The term is not well-defined as it does not
distinguish among some important stylistic and thematic difference,
there is no firm agreement which artists belong to it nor if muralism
should be considered part of it or separate.
[8][9]
It is not a school in the classic sense of the word as it includes work
by more than one generation and with different styles that sometimes
clash. However, it does involve a number of important characteristics.
Most painters in this school worked in
Mexico City or other cities in
Mexico,
working almost uninterrupted on projects and/or as teachers, generally
with support of the government. Most were concerned with the history and
identity of
Mexico
and politically active. Most art from this school was not created for
direct sale but rather for diffusion in both Mexico and abroad. Most
were formally trained, often studying in Europe and/or in the Academy of
San Carlos.
[9]
A large quantity of murals were produced in most of the country from
the 1920s to 1970, generally with themes related to politics and
nationalism focused often on the
Mexican Revolution, mestizo identity and
Mesoamerican cultural history.
[1] These served as a form of cohesion among members of the movement.
[4]
The political and nationalistic aspects had little directly to do with
the Mexican Revolution, especially in the later decades. The goal was
more to glorify it and its results as a means to legitimatize the post
Revolution government.
[1] The other political orientation was that of
Marxism,
which especially class struggle. This was strongest in the early
movement with Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros all avowed communists. The
political messages became less radical but they remained firmly to the
left.
[1]
Much of the mural production glorified the indigenous aspect of Mexican
culture, considering it an important factor in the creation of modern
Mexico. This was added with the idea of reexamining the country’s
history from a different perspective. One other aspect that most of the
muralists shared was a rejection of the idea that art was only for the
elite, but rather as a benefit for the masses.
[4]
The murals took on monumental status because of where they were
situation, mostly on the walls of colonial era government buildings and
the themes that were painted.
[4] The mural painters of
Mexico
freely shared ideas and techniques as they were a closely knit group.
However, the work of each was distinctive as the government did not set
style and artists can generally be deduced without looking at
signatures.
[7] Techniques included the revival of old techniques such as the
fresco, painting on freshly plastered walls and
encaustic or hot wax painting .
[4][5] Others used mosaics and high fire ceramics, as well as metal parts, and layers of cement.
[4] The most innovative of the artists was Siqueiros who worked with
pyroxlene, a commercial enamel and
Duco
(used to paint cars), resins, asbestos, old machinery and was one of
the first to use airbrush for artistic purposes. He pored, sprayed,
dripped and splattered paint for the effects they created haphazardly.
[7]
Los Tres Grandes
Mural in the main stairwell of the National Palace by Diego Rivera
By far, the three most influential muralists from the 20th century are
Diego Rivera,
José Clemente Orozco and
David Siqueiros, called “los tres grandes” (the three great ones).
[3][4] All believed that art was the highest form of human expression and a key force in social revolution.
[3] Their work defined the movement taking over from Vasconcelos. It created a mythology around the
Mexican Revolution and the Mexican people which is still influential to this day, as well as promote
Marxist
ideals. At the time the works were painted, they also served as a form
of catharsis over what the country had endured during the war.
[4]
However, the three were different in their artistic expression.
Rivera’s works were utopian and idealist, Orozco’s were critical and
pessimistic and the most radical were those of Siqueiros, heavily
focused on a scientific future.
[4][7] The differences among the three have much to do with how each experienced the
Mexican Revolution.
Rivera was in Europe the entire time and did not fight. He never
depicted the horrors of the war but what he perceived to be the social
benefits from it. The other two did and both did express the horrors of
war in their work.
[4] There was resentment to Rivera by the other two because of it, especially from Siquieros.
[1]
Of the three, Rivera was the most traditional in terms of painting
styles, drawing heavily from European modernism. His themes were
Mexican, often scenes of everyday life and images of ancient Mexico. He
originally painted this in bright colors in the European style but
modified it to more earthy tones to imitate indigenous murals. His
greatest contribution is the promotion of Mexico’s indigenous past into
how many people both inside and outside of the country view it.
[5][7]
Orozco also began with a European style of expression. However his
art developed into an angry denunciation of oppression especially by
those he considered to be an evil and brutal rules class.
[5] His work was somber and dire, with emphasis on human suffering and fear of the technology of the future.
[7]
Like most other muralists, Orozco condemned the Spanish as destroyers
of indigenous culture, but he did have kinder depictions such as that of
a Franciscan friar tending to an emaciated indigenous period.
[5] Unlike other artists, Orozco never glorified the
Mexican Revolution,
having fought in it, but rather depicted the horrors of this war. It
caused many of his murals to be heavily criticized and even defaced.
[7]
View of the Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros in Mexico City
Siqueiros was the youngest and most radical of the three, having joined the
Venustiano Carranza army when it was 18 and experienced the Revolution from the front lines.
[4][5]
Although all three were communists, Siqueiros was the most dedicated,
with his painting filled with portrayals of the proletarian masses. His
work is also characterized with rapid, sweeping, bold lines and the use
of modern enamels, machinery and other elements related to technology.
His radical politics made him unwelcome in
Mexico and the
United States, so he did much of his work in
South America.
[5][7] However, his masterpiece is considered to be the
Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros, located in Mexico City.
[1]
Influence
After nearly a century since the beginning of the movement, Mexican
artists still produce murals and other forms of art with the same
“mestizo” message. Murals can be found in government buildings, former
churches and schools in nearly every part of the country.
[1][10] One recent example is a cross cultural project in 2009 to paint a mural in the
municipal market of
Teotitlán del Valle, a small town in the state of
Oaxaca. High school and college student from
Georgia,
United States,
collaborated with town authorities to design and paint a mural to
promote nutrition, environmental protection, education and the
preservation of
Zapotec language and customs.
[10]
Mexican muralism brought mural painting back to the forefront of
Western art in the 20th century with its influence spreading abroad,
especially promoting the idea of mural painting as a form of promoting
social and political ideas.
[4] It offered an alternative to non-representational abstraction after
World War I
with figurative works that reflect society and its immediate concerns.
While most Mexican muralists had little desire to be part of the
international art scene, their influence spread to other parts of the
Americas. Notable muralists influenced by Mexican muralism include
Carlos Mérida of
Guatemala,
Oswaldo Guayasamín of
Ecuador and
Candido Portinari of
Brazil .
[5]
Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros all spent time in the United States. Orozco was the first to paint murals in the late 1920s at
Pomona College in
Claremont, California, staying until 1934 and becoming popular with academic institutions.
[1][3] During the
Great Depression, the
Works Progress Administration employed artists to paint murals, which paved the way for Mexican muralists to find commissions in the country.
[3] Rivera lived in the United States from 1930 to 1934. During this time, he put on an influential show of his easel work at the
Museum of Modern Art.
[1][3]
The success of Orozco and Rivera prompted U.S. artists to study in
Mexico and opened doors for many other Mexican artists to find work in
the country.
[1] Siqueiros did not fare as well. He was exiled to the US from Mexico in 1932, moving to
Los Angeles. During this time, he painted three murals, but they were painted over.
[1][3] América Tropical,
the only surviving public mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros in the United
States is being conserve and construction of an adjoining visitor
center is expected to be completed by 2012 or 2013.
The concept of mural as political message was transplanted to the
United States, especially in the former Mexican territory of the
Southwest. It served as inspiration to the later
Chicano Mural Movement but the political messages are different.
[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t John Eugene Kenny (2006). The Chicano Mural movement of the Southwest: Populist public art and Chicano political activism (PhD). University of New Orleans. OCLC 3253092.
- ^ "Plasmó
Juan Cordero primer mural en México con temas filosóficos" [Juan
Cordero plastered the first mural with philosophical themes in Mexico]. NOTIMEX (in Spanish) (Mexico City). May 27, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g "The art of Ramón Contreras and the Mexican Muralists movement". San Bernardino County Museum. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r ) Luz Elena Mainero del Castillo (2012). "El muralismo y la Revolución Mexicana" [Muralism asn the Mexican Revolution] (in Spanish). Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Estudios Históricos de las Revoluciones de México. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Populist art and the Mexican mural renaissance". Hispanic Heritage in the Americas -Latin American art. Britannica. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
- ^ a b Burton, Tony (March 14, 2008). "Dr. Atl and the revolution in Mexico's art". Mexconnect newsletter. ISSN 1028-9089. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pomade, Rita (May 5, 2007). "Mexican muralists: the big three - Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros.". Mexconnect newsletter. ISSN 1028-9089. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
- ^ James Oles (January 12, 2000). "Testigo de los anos 30" [Witness to the 1930s]. Reforma (in Spanish) (Mexico City). p. 1.
- ^ a b "Escuela Mexicana de Pintura y Escultura" [Mexican School of Painting and Sculpting] (in Spanish). Mexico City: Artes e Historia magazine. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
- ^ a b Hubbard,
Kathy (September 2010). "A CROSS-CULTURAL COLLABORATION: Using Visual
Culture for the Creation of a Socially Relevant Mural in Mexico". Art Education 63 (5): 68–75.
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